Tiger who?
This week, young Hollywood was shocked by the death of one of its own, which, sadly, is one of the few occasions—Christmas, coincidentally, being another one—in which celebs subconsciously unite to focus on what's important, appreciate one another and be a little less naughty.
Alas, Charlie Sheen may not have received the memo...
1. R.I.P.: Brittany Murphy was laid to rest Christmas Eve at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, four days after her mom discovered her unconscious in the bathroom of the home the actress shared with hubby Simon Monjack. Young (and veteran) Hollywood was shaken by the loss, with Twitter being the first outlet for many a celeb's grief, including the actress's ex, Ashton Kutcher. Tributes started pouring in, as did stories speculating on what was really wrong with the 32-year-old actress in the months leading up to her death. As tends to be the case with these tragedies, the coroner's office is sitting on its autopsy results until toxicology tests come back. Also becoming the norm: Guess who got ahold of leaked documents? (Get complete coverage right here.)
2. Say It Ain't So: Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, one of showbiz's most enduring couples, have broken up after 23 years together. Never having bothered with any pesky wedding vows, the Oscar winners (Sarandon's Best Actress win coming for Dead Man Walking, which Robbins directed) have two sons together and seemed so very, very solid. On a sad day for relationships everywhere, the nation looks to you, Kurt and Goldie.
3. Simon Says Bye?: We know who Tony Cowell is now, ever since the weekly podcaster let slip that his brother, Simon Cowell, is leaving American Idol after the 2010 season. Fox is still up for more, however, and is reportedly thisclose to signing a deal with Idol's producers that will keep TV's consistently most-watched series on the air till 2014. Of course, maybe ol' Tony has no idea what he's talking about and there's nothing for anyone to be concerned about. Besides whether or not Ellen's gonna flop or fly in a few weeks, that is.
4. Slap-Happy: Keeping Up With the Kardashians, featuring Khloé Kardashian Odom's trip to anger management and Rob's accidental ingestion of a little blue pill, was a big freakin' deal on Sunday, pulling in a bigger audience than Desperate Housewives on ABC. To be fair, that was a repeat, but still...Such a thing would have been unheard of in Desperate's heyday. And whoa, how about next week's ep?...Meanwhile, our Kendra just loves tweetin' about motherhood!
5. Dying Down?: Not that Tiger Woods didn't make any news this week, but the firestorm certainly died down as the golfer hunkered down at his home (or on his yacht, or in the Bahamas) and the world encouraged Elin Nordegren to get a-shoppin'. For a divorce attorney, that is. Of course, the media were also dealing with far more pressing news that, unlike Tiger's travails, was indeed a matter of life and death. But here's what we've got: Rachel Uchitel doesn't look pregnant.
6. Tidal Wave: Whodathunkit? This Jersey Shore thing has stolen the reality-TV show, with everyone from Alyssa Milano to Garden State lawmakers announcing their distaste for the heavily accented antics on MTV's latest uncannily attention-grabbing series.
7. Law of the Land: Just when you thought it was safe to totally like him again, Charlie Sheen was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence...Balloongaters Richard and Mayumi Heene got jail time!...The FBI released its Michael Jackson files...T.I. went from prison to halfway house...Vanessa Hudgens would like to put this naked-photo business behind her once and for all...The phrase allegations of domestic violence showed up in the court file on Courtney Love concerning 17-year-old daughter Francis Bean, who's now in the custody of her grandma...Amy Winehouse was busted for allegedly assaulting a theater manager after she got rowdy during a performance of Cinderella. Perfect...Pete Doherty was also nailed for a bloody stupid blunder...Randy and Evi Quaid finally showed up to court...Tom Cruise got sued...Roman Polanski's sex case is still open...Shane Sparks calls the child-molestation charges against him "bogus."
8. Get Lost: Watch With Kristin has been celebrating the merry days of Lost-mas with scoop after exclusive scoop pertaining to a certain island-and-alternate-universe-centric mystery series that kicks off its sixth and, sniff, final season on Feb. 2. It's all here on WWK's winter premiere dates calendar. Oh, and vote for your fave Girl on Top while you're at it. (In some bad tubing news, the SYTYCD top 10 aren't touring this season! And after all that, Russell lost Survivor: Samoa to Natalie. He took home the $100,000 fan-favorite prize as consolation.)
9. Odds & Ends: Kevin Jonas tied the knot...Carrie Underwood's engaged and wearing quite the ring...Peep the Taylor-on-Taylor action...Johnny Knoxville welcomed a son with his girlfriend...Here's the Sex and the City 2 trailer...Steven Tyler's back in rehab...Tila Tequila says she's pregnant...Six of the eight Jolie-Pitts were out and about...The Hurt Locker continued to be the critics' fave of 2009...Are Jerry Ferrara and Jamie-Lynn Sigler all split up?...Brody Jenner and Jayde Nicole are...We mourn Sesame Street's Olivia.
10. Results Show: Find out right here what you thought was the Best of 2009 in categories ranging from film and TV to pics and Twitter. And for good measure, here's what Britney Spears thought about the year about to end.
We hope you're having the happiest of holidays, and Week in Review will see you next year!
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It's time to recap and review! Start with our Best of 2009: Most Memorable Photos gallery and click on from there.